Chapter 2: The Call He Didn't Want Me to Answer
Jonathan's next words were quiet.
Almost gentle.
"Mrs.
Mercer, Ethan has known since before the wedding."
The hallway stayed silent.
Then Diane's voice came back — smaller than I had ever heard it.
"That's not possible."
"The deed was transferred into Ava's name when her father passed.
Ethan signed a document confirming he understood the arrangement.
Four years ago."
I heard Diane's breath catch.
"He never told me."
"No," Jonathan said.
"He didn't."
The paramedics reached the bedroom first.
One of them crouched beside me, checking my pulse, asking my name.
I answered but I couldn't stop listening to the hallway.
Diane appeared in the doorway a moment later.
She looked different.
The hardness was gone.
What replaced it was worse — something cracked open and confused.
"Ava." Her voice was strange.
"Did you know he knew?"
I looked at her.
"Yes."
"Then why did you never say anything?"
I thought about three years of silence.
Three years of smaller portions, quieter opinions, swallowed words.
"Because I kept hoping I wouldn't have to."
Her face went through something I couldn't name.
Then my phone lit up on the nightstand.
Ethan.
Calling from Atlanta.
Jonathan saw it too.
He looked at me and said, "Before you answer that — there's something else you need to know about that conference."
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What Jonathan revealed next about Ethan's trip changed everything Ava thought she knew.
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